The present invention relates to digital printing, and more particularly, printing of images, which were captured underwater.
Color prints obtained from images captured underwater are typically very disappointing to the consumer. When an image is captured underwater, red light is filtered out by the water. This filtering effect becomes even worse at greater depths and longer distance from the subject to the camera. This filtering results in prints made from these images to lack the appropriate amount of red. Available light photography becomes more difficult with depth as red light is filtered and the overall illumination becomes lower. This problem persists even when underwater illumination systems are provided because the red light is filtered by the amount of water between the light source and the subject, and then again as the reflected light returns to the camera. As a result, under exposures often suffer from poor image quality when reproduced by traditional systems.
The present approach to solving the problem of an image captured underwater includes over-exposing of the image. However, this only helps if the blue and green channels are not driven to clipping where the blue and green channels lose detail from saturation, and if compensation is made in the printing of the color negative. Placing a filter, such as a blue and green filter, over the camera""s lens and metering system can help, but this decreases the overall light level and maintains a fixed ratio between the color channels. There has also been suggested the use of reversal film with an altered color balance. However, this is often costly in development and the fixed amplification ratio in the three color channels does not account for variations in depth and is subject to camera distance. While flash systems and other artificial lighting can be utilized, the distance between the subject and camera must be accounted for. While macro exposures are often used to minimize this distance problem, close-up photography may not be practical or desirable.
Thus, there exists a need to improve the quality of prints made from images captured underwater in an efficient and accurate manner.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for printing a customer image order containing at least one image captured underwater, comprising the steps:
a) obtaining a digital record of a customer image order containing at least one image and automatically determining if the at least one image was captured underwater;
b) manipulating the digital record of the at least one image captured underwater in a predetermined manner; and
c) digitally printing the image captured underwater in accordance with the corrections.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of printing a customer image order containing at least one image captured underwater, comprising the steps of:
a) scanning a photosensitive media containing a customer image order having a plurality of images so as to obtain a digital record;
b) automatically determining if an image contained in the digital record has been captured underwater; and
c) modifying the portion of the digital record containing the at least one image captured underwater so as to provide a modified image.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for printing customer image orders containing at least one image captured underwater, comprising:
means for obtaining digital record of a customer image order having at least one digital image,
means for determining the at least one image has been captured underwater; and
means for automatically modifying the at least one image, if it was captured underwater, to a predetermined parameter.
In still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer program thereon which when loaded into a computer, which causes the computer to performance the following steps:
a) obtaining a digital record of a customer image order containing at least one image;
b) automatically determining if the at least one image was captured underwater;
c) manipulating the digital record of the at least one image captured underwater in a predetermined manner; and
d) digitally printing, storing, or displaying the image captured underwater in accordance with the manipulation to said digital record.
The above, and other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the accompanying detailed description thereof when considered in conjunction with the following drawings.